A Very Torchwood Christmas
by Theta'sWorstNightmare
Summary: It's Christmas and even the Defenders of Earth need a normal day to prepar the family dinner, or they should. A shity day, lack of Christmas spirit and aliens taking over your family dinner, a dinner to which he didn't even want to go, could ruin the Christmas even for the most stoic Torchwood employee.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not even a Christmas Carol book.**

**A/N: I'm sorry that this is unbetaed, but it was a chellenge that I miself made for Christmas and was supposed to be posted by today. When I have it betaed I wll replace this with the edited version. It also was supposed to be a longer one shot, but I didn't have a time to write later so in order to keep he deadline I'm going to post however much I've manged to write as a chapter and then keep updating.**

**The prompts were:**

**One character wants to have a proper Christmas, the other one is being a Scrooge.**

**the car broke down**

**Father Christmas**

**Aliens**

**The Christmas dinner ends in disaster.**

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He wasn't sure what he had dreamed of really, but he was certain it was better than the reality of alarms blaring almost into his ear. For one heart-stopping moment, Ianto thought that he was still in the Hub and that the Rift activity alarm had sounded. A moment late when his sluggish, sleep ridden brain started to catch up with the situation around, he realised that he was still sleeping in home with a warm body next to him. By the way of logic, the alarm that tried to give him a heart attack and a deaf ear was his clock alarm, proclaiming that it was time to get up for another day at work. Groaning to himself and not even bothering to open his eyes, Ianto swiped a hand on top of the bedside digital clock. He didn't estimate the right force and the clock slid off the table and crashed on the floor with and audibly loud noise. The body next to him stirred a bit and mumbled in protest.

Keeping his eyes closed, Ianto decided that he will let himself sleep just ten more minutes, it was Christmas after all. He hated working on Christmas. It seems that even shagging the boss, who seemed to sleep through the alarm even now, didn't mean he could stay home and be lazy for a day. Ianto supposed that it was still better than having to attend Christmas family meetings. He decided that he was already awake enough and there was no point in having ten minutes lie in. Kicking Jack's leg off he managed to entangle himself from bed sheets and human limbs alike. The captain still kept on sleeping undisturbed. Well lucky him, Ianto felt himself at the moment in that unhappy place where you were too awake to go back to a blissful sleep, but too asleep to be awake enough, the moment before his first cup of coffee.

Staggering into the bathroom to take a shower and get himself in his usual immaculate presentation for work. Only it was damn hard before he had even attempted to drink a coffee. The noise of his phone ringing came through the door while he was turning on the hot water in the shower.

"Ianto," Jack shouted through the closed door, "Someone called Rhiannon wants to speak to you and to know who I'm."

He hastily switched off the shower and ran back into the bedroom, dripping water all over the floor and cursing silently. He snatched the phone from Jack's had and started to make erratic gestures for the Captain to keep silent.

"Just my boss," Ianto answered the question that came from the other side of the phone. He knew his sister's curiosity wouldn't be satisfied by this answer but right now he didn't had the patience for her question and answer interrogation. He didn't have enough time in the shower to even begin to wake up and feel human again, and he was yet to have his first caffeine fix for the day. "No civil servant bosses don't take the liberty to sleep over at their workers, we had a Christmas party at the office and he was too drunk to go home so he came over to mine since I live closest to the office. Happy now?"

When he moved his head slightly to see what Jack was doing, Ianto could see the Captain giving him a smirk and trying to look amused. But something in his posture or eyes, Ianto wasn't completely sure, showed a spark of hurt after Ianto's refusal to acknowledge to his sister that there was something more between them than boss and employ. Rhiannon's next question took his attention away from Jack and the possible implications of what he had seen in his lover's gaze.

"No, Rhiannon, I can't come. I'm working today. Beside you know that I hate family Christmas dinners." Ianto sighed. They had this argument every year at this time, and every year he tried to explain to Rhiannon that he didn't want to see any of the relatives. Let alone have to be pleasant to them and eat and drink with them. The only time that he could actually get out of this was with Lisa and having the excuse that she will bring him to her family Christmas dinner to introduce him to them. That had shut Rhiannon up and probably aunt Aldyth, who never seem satisfied by certain members of the family and especially him. Aunt Aldyth was a scary old bat who still lived in her past and not noticing that her old aristocratic money had ran out after uncle Huw had died and left so many debts that even when she sold the house she barely managed to cover them. She had always thought that his mother could do better than his father. The fact that he looked so much like his mother, more gentle and delicate, not for a manual work, aunt Aldyth seemed to give so much hope in him, until he dropped college.

He had heard Rhiannon's arguments for so long- it was the same every year- now he could just stop listening and still come back to the conversation at the right time to give his usual answer.

"Yes, Rhi, I know but I work, just in case of emergency," Ianto answered with exasperation. "Yes, there are emergencies in the Tourist Office work, what if someone had lost their way around Cardiff and a family is waiting for them?" He went to the adjoining kitchenette and switched the coffee machine on to warm up the water. "Yes, Rhi in the night as well," he sighed tired of the argument already and looking hungrily at the coffee machine's light willing it to turn on faster to indicate that is ready to make that much needed coffee.

"Maybe it's just an excuse, you know I hate this things," he was ready to resolve to pleading by now. "Why do I need to come and be nice to people I don't even remember for the better part of the year?"

He could hear Mica over the phone asking her mother why she was angry and Rhiannon answer of, "Nothing sweetheart, your uncle's just bein' a Scrooge again."

"Bah Humbug," he muttered crossly mocking his sister.

Of course she won the argument, she always did in the end when proposing that if he didn't go to her house, she was going to organise the dinner at his flat. It was every year the same, and he really didn't know why he even bothered to argue, perhaps he hoped that this time it will be different. That was every time until she mentioned his flat, he wasn't sure if she ever was serious, but really couldn't take the chance that she was. Finally agreeing to go there if he finishes work on time, he hang up the phone with a heavy sigh and made his and Jack's coffees.

Two strong hands sneaked around his back and pulled him against the Captains chest.

"You know, if you look at your flat a person would never guess that is a Christmas time," Jack said softly to him. "Where's your decoration, and a Christmas tree?"

"What's the point of havin' a tree in doors anyway?" Ianto asked in turn. "Puttin' something for a couple of days and then havin' to hoover green tree needles from the carpet for months?"

"Well some decorations then," Jack persisted grinning. "Maybe we can put some decorations, curl up on the sofa or something. Or we can decorate the Hub, a Christmas at Torchwood. I bet Gwen had already put something up, she wouldn't miss, she looks like a Christmas person. Maybe I can come to your family dinner."

God, Jack sounded so enthusiastic and hopeful like a little kid. Ianto would never have though that about Jack as someone who would get so excited about something so mundane and domestic.

"No, you are not coming to my family dinner," Ianto said with a bit more force than needed and shoved the mug with coffee in Jack's hands. "What's the point in putting decorations when I'm hardly home and will have to take them off soon enough?"

He almost regretted seeing the kicked puppy look on Jack's face but was so worn out by Rhiannon's argument that it didn't hold. Taking his coffee, Ianto made his way towards the bedroom to get ready for work.

"Beside, don't you remember what happened last Christmas?" Ianto tossed over his shoulder to his lover. "You and John used my car to commit suicide. Very merry indeed."

"Why are you such a Grinch?" Jack asked annoyed, his Christmas spirit already starting to dissipate by Ianto's behaviour.

"I'm not a Grinch," Ianto said draining the last of his coffee and leaving the mug on the bedside. "I'm just practical and don't see the point in all that hassle, of rushing around putting colourful stuff that you hate during any other time. Or wastin' your time in wrapping stuff and sending cards for people you don't remember the better part of the year. I have enough paper work as it is. Beside you are way too chipper for someone who doesn't even origin in from a culture who celebrates Christmas."

With his part said Ianto entered the bathroom and started to brush his teeth, a moment later he was followed by slightly hurt looking Jack who joined him in brushing his teeth. Maybe it was the domesticity of the Christmas time or the fact that Jack was so eager to have a Christmas this year that made him paranoid, but he suddenly noticed things he hadn't before. Like the routine he and Jack had built to perfection managing to work around each other in the bathroom getting ready for work like a real couple. It scared him and for a few minutes Ianto stared in the mirror at their reflections.

"Jack…" he finally said after spitting the toothpaste out. "When did you move in?"

"What do you mean?" Asked Jack annoyed still feeling the burn of Ianto's mood.

"I mean you have your, toothbrush in my bathroom. We work around each other with practice. You don't even have a key from my flat, but everywhere I turn suddenly your stuff is around." Ianto finished and went to the cupboard pulling out Jack's clothes for the day, throwing them on the bed as an example.

"You are saying it as if it was something bad," Jack said frowning. "Not that I need a key to enter your flat but it would have been a nice though of you if you gave me one."

He gave Jack a withering glare, dried his face and threw the used tower on the floor before exiting the bathroom and starting to put up his suit of armour for the day. In defiance of everybody's cheery Christmas mood, he traded his usually bright red or purple shirts for a dull grey one and a black and grey striped three piece suit, with a grey and blue tie.

"If you have to go to the family dinner, I suppose we should stop by the shops so you can buy presents," Jack shouted from the bathroom before emerging and starting to dress up for work himself.

It was too domestic for Ianto, he really though that anymore and he wouldn't be able to stand it and will do or say something he would regret later.

"We are not shopping together Jack," Ianto said firmly and started to go through his possessions and clothes trying to find the car key's cursing.

He was sure that he had left them on the letter table near the door, but they weren't there right now. It was as if some evil Christmas gnome had moved them just to mock him and made him late for work because of his refusal to be swept by the Christmas farce. At least he wasn't going to be the only one late for work, if he was going to be late. The boss was going with him. For a moment he contemplated on walking to the Hub, but one look out the window at the heavy and cold rain was enough to discard that idea. And people where wondering about where his Christmas spirit was, as if there was anything Christmas-y out there, at least the weather could have been nicer and gave them a white Christmas, but no, it had to piss down on them. After ruining all his attempts in cleaning his flat last night, in the vain hope of finding his car keys he was ready to give up. There was the unwashed load in the wash machine which really was his last ditch attempt in finding them and not having to walk or try to find spare change for a bus ticket. Unfortunately, they weren't in his laundry either.

"Are you looking for these?" A fully dressed now Jack asked Ianto from the bedroom doorway dangling a set of keys on his index finger.

Scowling, Ianto snatched them from Jack's hand and put his shoes and coat exiting the apartment without waiting for Jack or even saying thanks.

At the end they ended up doing some shopping, Jack had worn him out with pleading, asking to see what that Christmas fever was and singing combined parts of Christmas Carols, which Ianto couldn't even began to guess where his lover knew from. Ianto would have been quite happy to just give them some money, or apology that he was working and had no time for shopping. What was he supposed to buy to all them anyway? Especially aunt Aldyth, Mica and David were easy, he was going to give them money anyway, and it seemed to work with them quite well. But that was the core of his relationship with his nephews, he gives them money, they don't really bother him when he is around. In the end he opted for the safety of buying everyone a thirty pounds gift card from Top Shop. That settled he sighed that maybe finally he could concentrate at going to work and doing his work. If he strikes lucky for once today, they will have so much rift activity and work and clean-up to do, that he wouldn't possibly leave Gwen and Jack doing it alone, so he will have the excuse not to go to the dinner. Or maybe he would have to stay late so Gwen could go home to Rhys and their in laws, she sure will enjoy it more than him. Or maybe if he was really, really lucky today the world will be ending.

Unfortunately dragging Jack out of the shopping centre was harder than he thought it would be. Somehow the man had never stricken his as a shopping lover, but right now he was like a kid in a toy store. Ianto noted the fascination with shiny objects for later. It was like watching a raven trying to snatch a shiny foil from a silvery surface. By the time they got back to the car, Ianto was sure that they were at least twenty minutes late for work. Not that anyone would notice of course, he was sure that Gwen won't be in until half past eleven and with hangover. Still he hated being late. Turning the key in the ignition, he had another nasty surprise for a day that seemed bent on giving him one after another. The car chocked, spluttered and then just died.

Jack looked at him tentatively anticipating the volcano that was about to explode the moment Ianto stopped staring at the dashboard. Taking a deep breath he tore his gaze from the dashboard and moved it to Jack, and then deliberately calm and composed moved to the front of the Peugeot to open the lid of the engine. Both men looked at the engine and had to admit that they hadn't a clue of what to do.

"I think is fucked," Jack gave his very helpful opinion.

"As if you know," Ianto almost cried. Taking out his phone he resigned to calling AA who told him that they will be there by half an hour. "So much for emergency," he muttered and put his collar up starting to walk with determination, Jack following him silently. So he would have to walk in the rain after all, if the day was going to go that way he was sure that he would break something, preferably heavy and expensive.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: First want to thank my beta Brownbug for her wonderful work. **

**I know is a bit late for Christmas stories now, but I didn't have time to write it at that time, so you will have an extra Christmas threats. It's going to be over in other 2 or 3 chapters anyway. Thanks to all who reviewed the first chapter.**

* * *

Of course, simply walking back to the Hub would've been too easy. When he put the collar of his coat up and started to walk away, Jack shouted after him that they should wait for the AA. Ianto was really tempted to leave Jack there to wait and go to work as much on time as he was going to make it. The only problem was that he didn't trust Jack with his car ever since the incident last Christmas.

And that's how they ended up waiting for the emergency road services tow truck to come and pick Ianto's Peugeot up. They weren't kidding when they said half an hour - it seemed as if they were waiting until exactly the last second before arriving, just to be punctual. Usually, Ianto didn't have any problems with being punctual, but right now he was an hour late for work and he still had to walk more than twenty minutes in the rain. The bloody rain, that was soaking through to his bones, despite the heavy coat he had on him. It felt like everything inside him was chilled and he thought that he would never feel warm again. Jack, of course, had to be totally insufferable and chipper despite the cold. Well, it would be just Ianto's luck that being immortal meant that the Captain was unaffected by the extreme temperatures and felt perfectly all right, while Ianto himself was freezing his ass off. His suit was absolutely ruined now, and he cursed the time he spent in grooming himself for work. As if anyone would notice the trouble he had taken now that his clothes were dripping water and clinging to his figure, which was far from the perfect with all these take aways they were eating. Jack called them love handles, but Ianto knew that it was just fat accumulating around his waist and ass. Not really flattering, having his trousers clinging to them. His hair was plastered to his head and he was sure that the gel there was starting to form foam.

His key wasn't even in the pad of the Tourist Information door when a lady approached him. Ianto growled low into his throat - that was all he needed right now, an actual tourist asking for the Cardiff Museum or Cardiff Castle or some other stupid destination.

"Excuse me!" the lady shouted after him, while he tried to enter the office and slam the door before she reached him. Jack wasn't any help at all, chuckling and making his way down to the Hub to change into dry clothes, leaving Ianto to deal with the tourist while dripping all over the place and looking like a drowned animal.

Of course, it would be too much to ask that it would be a normal tourist – nope, it had to be a purple-skinned, six foot Melarian who didn't want to listen to Ianto's explanation that Earth was still only in the early twenty first century. The alien insisted on directions to the best tour route for Cardiff Castle and Flat Holm Island. As if Ianto could actually allow her to go to Flat Holm. The usual tourists were a big enough nightmare, as a rule, if they managed to catch the Information Centre open, demanding that he gave them all the information he had. And if the Centre wasn't open when they wanted it, they usually managed to come back later, just to give him hell for not doing his job. Of course none of them realised that he was off saving their asses so they could live another day to go and pester someone for information and pictures. But, as annoying as they were, they weren't the biggest problem. No, the biggest problem were aliens like the Melarian, demanding that they should be allowed to visit the city, despite the fact that Earth had not officially had her first alien contact yet. Their usual argument was that postponing their tour would mess with their holiday schedule… Well, weren't all the tourists the same, no matter where they came from? Sometimes the American and Japanese tourists were no less alien than the Melarian.

Fortunately for everyone in these situations, Ianto always managed to be perfectly polite, smiling at the tourists and being incredibly helpful, even while he mentally calculated what his chances of justifying shooting them were. And the best part, of course, is that the tourists never knew it.

After a few frustrating attempts at understanding each other and mistranslating, the purple creature agreed to meet with Jack and talk to him. Ianto sighed with relief at the prospect of going to dry himself off before doing anything else. He ushered the Melarian towards the Information Office door. But his relief was short lived because, before the creature had the time to duck inside, he could see a group of grannies approaching. If there were worse tourists than the aliens, it would have to be the grannies. They wasted as much of his time as the aliens sometimes, but at least it was his job to take care of the aliens. Of course, the grannies were the inevitable danger of having the Tourist Office as a cover. They were even worse than the American tourists or the English students.

Ianto had lost count how many of them tried to play matchmaker and give him their granddaughter's or niece's numbers - it depended on how old the granny was. He had collected enough phone numbers to create a Cardiff and Newport's Single Women Committee Yellow Pages. For some reason, probably because these days it was so unusual for a man of his age to dress in a suit while running a simple shop, they seemed to find him old-fashioned enough to want to marry him themselves, if it wasn't inappropriate to propose such a thing. Jack had saved him from a few by kissing him in front of them while they were looking for a place to write down the phone number. Of course, it wasn't out of jealousy - it was more for fun, and Ianto was immensely grateful. God only knew what they were doing here at Christmas here. They'd probably been saving their whole life, just so they could go and make the lives of tourist agents miserable, now that they had retired, Ianto's life included.

He stood in front of the Melarian to block it from the grannies' curious eyes.

"Sorry, we're closed," he hastily informed the group, and tried to push them back through sheer will power so he could close the door.

"No, I saw you just opening the door and talking to that tall woman. That poor lamb was going purple from the cold," one of the grannies insisted and tried to get around him to enter the shop, probably in an attempt to escape the rain, against which even her umbrella wasn't helping much. "Where did she go? Did you send the poor thing off as well?"

Ianto fought the urge to snort at the granny's conclusion that the woman had gone purple with cold. It was amazing what weird things the people of Cardiff were ready to put up with and ignore. They even made logical conclusions like this one just to explain away the weird, and not to have to think about it too much. Well, logical if you didn't pay attention to the fact that the Melarian was a bit too dark purple even for someone who is too cold, and it was a bit too tall for an average woman.

"She's here for a job interview," Ianto tried the first excuse that he could think of, still trying to fend off the horde of angry grannies. What joy his job was! Big scary aliens, bent on conquering the Earth, easy - give them to him any day! But this constant stream of tourists… When Tosh and Owen were still around it had been easier. Back then, he didn't have too much else to do but to keep the Hub going and the front covered. Now, however, with only the three of them, he thought that they should abandon the cover altogether. There was no time for this. He was starting to shiver in his wet clothes and cursed the grannies, who cared about the girl being cold, but didn't mind holding him up while he was wet and cold.

"No, you see it says here that you are open from 10am to 7pm," the granny with the colourful umbrella and even more colourful scarf and coat pointed at the opening hours listed on the door. She had a distinctive Scottish accent and, under her scarf, her hair was dyed bright red. "And it's only 10:30."

"Yes, and it's also Christmas Day, ma'am," Ianto said, as politely as he could, barely managing to hold his temper. He started to wonder if he could make up an excuse strong enough to convince Jack that the grannies were some kind of wicked witch aliens and shoot them. Probably not, but it was worth considering. By the time the granny had huffed with disapproval and had finished talking, he was so drenched that he figured he could stay out in the rain for the entire day now without getting any wetter. Finally the granny grunted at him in displeasure, flicked her bag over her shoulder and pivoted around on her heel, dragging her companions with her, muttering something rude, probably directed at Ianto's heritage.

The grannies out of the way, and the alien tourist safely down the Hub with Jack on the case, Ianto was ready to close the door and go dry himself and change his clothes. At that moment, Gwen entered, looking only a bit damp, probably from having to run from Rhys' car to the door. She looked warm, content and cheerful.

"Happy Christmas, Ianto," she shouted joyfully, even before she had managed to enter the Tourist Office.

When she came inside, however, she looked shocked at Ianto's condition and opened her mouth, probably wanting to ask him what had happened to him. He lifted a hand to stop her and cut her short before she had started talking.

"Don't ask, if you don't want me to shoot you!" Ianto warned her angrily. She must have seen it in his face, because she didn't ask. She probably thought that he wasn't serious and wouldn't really shoot her. But then again, Owen thought the same just before Ianto_ did_ shoot him.

"I'm going down to Jack then, no need to stay up here and sulk just because you got a bit wet," Gwen told him before the secret door opened to let her to the lift. "No need to be rude. It's not in your character anyway!" she chastised him. Ianto gave her the finger over his shoulder and hoped that he could get hold of the CCTV later to see her face. It was going to be worth his shitty day just to see her face at that moment. Unfortunately, with his back currently facing her, he'd just have to imagine it for the time being.

He wished that Owen was still alive and would piss Jack off, so that the Captain could send him up here as a punishment to mind the Tourist Office. On second thought, though, maybe it wasn't a good idea. Owen hated it, but that wasn't the problem - it wouldn't be so much fun if Owen didn't hate it. The problem was that every time Jack had sent Owen out here in the past, the next day the community centre was bombarded by customer complaint letters, calls and e-mails. It turned out that Owen didn't even try to help anyone but actually just told them to piss off while he was watching porn. One of the families bought the special edition of Welsh tour DVDs for their child, and they were shocked to discover the little girl watching porn. It was lucky for them that Jack could pull rank and the family didn't sue Owen. One can only imagine the horror Ianto experienced when they confiscated the DVD and he discovered that it was CCTV footage of him and Jack that someone had forgotten to delete.

His hopes for the world ending were in vain, as it seemed that even the Weevils didn't want to show up on the surface during the foul weather. Once he managed to make it inside the Hub and saw the enthusiastic decorations that Gwen had put up, and the grin that Jack had sprouted, Ianto was sure that he would prefer to brave the pissing rain outside. He was glad that Gwen wasn't stupid enough to put some Christmas Carols on, but she sang them while typing, and he was sure that if he heard "All I Want for Christmas is You" one more time he would end up spending the night in the Police station charged with assault.

In the end, he left for Rhiannon's house earlier, just to make sure that he wasn't going to go on a killing spree around the Torchwood Hub. Jack had already survived one of those at the beginning of the century. He didn't need to go through another one, just because Ianto was in a bad mood. Of course, now maybe he would have to go on a killing spree around his sister's house, but that was personal and was none of Jack's business.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Ok, I do understand that we are in the middle between last Christmas and the next Christmas, and is not really the time for a Christmas story but I couldn't write for a while since I've been quite busy, and when I wasn't busy I was in a lot of pain to be grateful enough to just be able to get out of bed. So here is a Christmas story near the summer. It will probably have a couple of more chapters. I don't plan on dragging it until he next Christmas I promise.**

* * *

_I was walking around, just a face in the crowd_  
_ Trying to keep myself out of the rain_  
_ Saw a vagabond king wear a styrofoam crown_  
_ Wondered if I might end up the same_  
_ There's a man out on the corner_  
_ Singing old songs about change_  
_ Everybody got their cross to bare, these days_

**'These Days'- Bon Jovi**

Being in a haste to flee the Hub meant he hadn't really thought about borrowing a car, or making sure he had money for a taxi. Despite the lack of public transport, the Bay was still buzzing with people mailing about, between the mostly closed shops and the occasional open café, even this late in the afternoon. The rain had stopped and Ianto decided that he would walk to Cardiff Central to take a bus to Cromwell Estate. He would usually take the train from Cardiff Bay if he was tired but the walk wasn't that long and the trains from Cardiff Bay weren't running anyway. Going down 'Lloyd George Avenue 'the groups of people started to get less frequent the more distance he got from the Bay. Ianto was almost sure that once he got near the Cardiff Central the buzz of crowd will be back, but for now he enjoyed the almost solitary feeling. The rain had stopped, but a wet snow was falling from the sky and trying unsuccessfully to cover the ground. It melted into water in the puddles before it even got the chance to touch the ground.

His thin soiled dress shoes probably weren't the best choice because his feet were beginning to feel as if they were getting frostbite inside the cold leather. Well he should be grateful that he could still feel them, he supposed. Maybe he should have taken the bus or a taxi after all because the thick coat didn't seem to do much to keep him warm when his feet were freezing. But he was so annoyed when he left the Hub, he need to clear his head before he got to Rhiannon's dinner knowing that there probably will be enough of provocation to his nerves, unless aunt Aldyth didn't come, very unlikely, unless she had finally snuffed it. And his cousin Miranda was going to be there, which since she had married, and recently had a baby will be new fuel for aunt Aldyth and her obsession to make him take the right turn in his life.

Miranda, who had married in London a couple of years ago, and pretended to be better than them all, as if she didn't know where she had come from. Not, that it was anything different than what he did really, and now he felt like such a hypocrite. After all, wasn't he the one who played a valley boy dressed up in expensive suits? Well, at least, he maybe have an apartment in the new reconstructed side of the docks, but he didn't insist on living in Essex and pretending that uncle Huw and aunt Aldyth's money and titles still existed. And maybe that's better. Ianto had more trouble imagining being addressed as Lord Jones, than understanding all the systems Tosh had installed into Mainframe.

The sun was well settled now and the late afternoon looked more like a night. The big avenue was brightly lit by halogen sights, hotels and street lamps, but some of the smaller roads were already starting to look dark and not a little suspicious. Looking at some of them and knowing what kind of creatures might be lurking in the dark there, not all of them Weevils, he decided against taking a short cut to the station. Suddenly the quietness of the place didn't feel that comfortable, he could hear the crunch of the occasional stone under his shoes loud and clear. Picking up his pace, Ianto hoped to make it to 'St Mary Street' before his already fried nerves had flared even further. Maybe from there he could take the bus to Cromwell Estate and not bother with the train after all.

_Seriously this is ridiculous_, he thought to himself. As if he had never been around dark streets in a lot worse situations than this. On the corner with Penarth road his eyes fell on a group of people dressed as Santas. Seriously who was standing around street corners dressed as Santa at a time only a few lonely souls were around? They didn't even sing Carlos or something, just stood there holding their trumpets, trumpets that couldn't look any more fake. Ianto was sure he had seen them in London once or twice and could never understand them. Shaking his head he ignored them and continued on his way. Admittedly they were very peculiar, but he'd seen stranger things, so by the time he reached the roundabout he had put the strange Santas out of his mind. There was another musician there, a much more real looking that the Santas, and although not strictly looking cheerful singing Christmas Carols, he played his saxophone with some real passion. The man looked sad and lonely, standing on the pavement on the roundabout in an evening where everyone was supposed to be around the family table in a nice, dry, and warm room. Ianto suddenly felt like a right idiot, complaining about where he had to go and whose company he had to tolerate, while this man here just stood in the rain and played this amazing jazz tune that could pull on the strings of someone's heart. Finishing the tune the man lowered his sax and smiled at Ianto.

"Merry Christmas," he said cheerfully despite all evidence that the Christmas for him wouldn't be any more merry than any other day.

Ianto could just nod numbly not knowing what to say. Was returning a cheerful 'Merry Christmas' appropriate? Or was his silence now even worse. At the end he opted for the easier way, the one that he always used when he didn't know what to say to people like this or to his nephews. He took out his walled and threw some crisp banknotes in the saxophone case. It felt wholly inadequate, but staying around chatting with the man or inviting him for a quick supper in a near café wasn't something Ianto would do. That's why he thought that the whole Christmas idea was stupid, it just made the lonely people feel even more alone, and the one that suddenly for a day feel charitable think better of themselves. As if one day of being charitable, would make the fact that didn't give a shit for the suffering through the rest of the year better.

He tried not to look as if he was picking up his pace, as if he was hurrying, trying to escape the company of that man. He could have deceived the man, or any other pedestrian around, but he couldn't lie to his consciousness, and trying to escape made him feel even worse for himself. Was he becoming too insensitive to anything that didn't threated the peoples life, because Ianto was sure that there was a time he would have returned the greeting. Now though, if the man wasn't bleeding or wasn't being attacked by something, he just ran away from them.

"No one should be alone at Christmas." The man's voice came behind him, soft but strong enough to be carried towards him by the wind.

"I'm not, I'm just going to meet with my sister," Ianto answered and then regretted it. Was it too much of a gloating that he wouldn't be alone? He didn't want to face this part of his consciousness, so he visibly picked up his pace, not bothering to hide it from the man anymore. The man was finally left far enough behind that Ianto couldn't see him as anything but a dark figure in the background, but the words followed him even in his escape.

_No one should be alone at Christmas, _and he had just left Jack in the Hub. Did Jack even have a family to go to at Christmas? Or did he spend all this Christmases on his own in the silent Hub with only Myfanwy for company. He remembered, Jack asking him in the morning about going to the family dinner with Ianto, surely if he had a family he wouldn't ask about this, and he had brushed him off so carelessly. God, he was a terrible person. Maybe Jack was used to it by now; surely it wasn't the first or even the worst time.

Ianto was more than glad to lose sight of the street musician, not because the man was bad, but because he played on his consciousness too much. He was glad despite there being another group of the peculiar Santas, or maybe they were moving. He almost ran right on top of one of them, who didn't even bother to apologise or at least acknowledge Ianto's apology.

Gwen was almost sure that for once the Rift will be considerate enough to give Torchwood their needed holiday. Because if Ianto could take half of the day off and go to his sister, surely Gwen could take it as well and go home early to have the Christmas dinner with Rhys, as she had promised. Of course it wasn't to be, and since she was in the Hub at the time the alarm blared, she was the one to have to accompany Jack, Gwen was sure he would flat out refuse to call Ianto. There was a time, Gwen knew, time when she would have ran alongside Jack without sparing Rhys a second though, no matter the name of the holiday. Times and dynamics in the team had changed so much since that kind of days. Then she loved Jack, now she was sure that her loyalties in love lay with Rhys. Of course she still loved Jack, but now she knows that she wasn't _in_ love with Jack.

Jack, maybe it was good that she was here after all, the poor man was alone and no one should have to be today. Gwen wondered if she ought to invite him at their dinner with Rhys, but it would just be awkward and Jack would never accept anyway. She cursed Ianto in all the languages that she had picked up working with aliens, and not only because he was the one who should be here with Jack working, but because he was the one who should have invited Jack to a family dinner. The stupid grump, and that was another thing that had changed in her mind, Gwen used to think that Jack was the one to keep their relationship unspecified and at arm's length. _Guess the team becoming smaller, closer and knowing each other better put some things in perspective, _Gwen though. Not that it was time for epiphanies right now, when Jack was looking worried and was talking about Ianto and some kind of pilot fishes. What had Ianto to do with pilot fishes, Gwen wasn't sure, but it came to show her that she ought to pay more attention because she had not heard a sensible word out of what Jack had said. She could strip pieces out of Ianto tomorrow when he comes back to work for leaving Jack alone. What did Ianto have to fear anyway, she could understand Jack's reluctance to keep a relationship, but Ianto…

Jack was gesturing a little frustrated now so Gwen shook herself mentally and tried to focus on what Jack was saying.

"Whatever is following these pilot fish is going to be something big, and the three of us are not enough," Jack was saying, and if he had explained what these pilot fish were and why she hadn't seen them she had missed it and didn't dare to ask. "So, this time the moment you find them shoot first and then ask questions."

He looked at her probably expecting her to argue, and she would have, fiercely, once upon a time. Now thought she knew better, with only the three of them, they had not enough force to allow bleeding hearts. And that thought stopped her for a moment at her tracks and knocked the metaphorical wind out of her, she had just accepted Jack's command to shoot a living thing without so much as a token protest. When had she changed so much, wasn't it her who was employed to change Torchwood and make them more human, was it going the other way around? Torchwood was changing her, and she wasn't sure if it hadn't started before they lost Tosh and Owen, because it was easy to lie to herself that this change had started only as a reaction to this. But Gwen never liked to lie to herself, and she wasn't going to start now. She knew that she was losing the humanity that Jack was prising her so much about. Instead of her making Torchwood more human and less broken, it was Torchwood which was breaking her piece, by little piece, and shaping her into the person everyone else working there had become. Maybe that was the reason for Ianto's and Jack's hesitation to look into new employees. They didn't want to break another person, because Torchwood was inevitably going to break them.

She stood up and checked her gun to make sure that it was loaded and would not jam in the wrong moment.

"Where are they?" she asked feeling ready. All thoughts and doubts pushed at the back of her mind to be examined later, after the job was done.

"On Penarth road, but they are moving towards the junction between Penarth and St Mary's Road. They're either surveying, or have a moving target which they are following. "


End file.
